The invention finds a general application in the exchange of data between a portable object and an interface device and, more particularly, the exchange of data between a receiver/decoder used to descramble scrambled television programs in reception and a portable object of the chip card or chip key type of a subscriber.
Today, the majority of chip cards on the market meet a specific standard, defined particularly in the ISO/CEI 7816-3 and -4 documents. This standard particularly relates to the transmission protocol between the chip card and an interface device with which the card cooperates.
Because of this standard, a multitude of tools and software exist for making interface devices such as chip card readers, control pilots, test and validation tools, machines for customizing cards, etc.
In practice, the standard specifies that the default transmission protocol and the possible other transmission protocols offered by the card are indicated in the interface device through a parameter, called T, that is conveyed in the response of the card when said card is turned on. The standard also provides the possibility for the interface device to select at least one other transmission protocol than that initially retained by the card.
In addition, applications are known such as subscription television, that uses portable chip objects having non-standardized formats, for example, in the form of keys that work according to protocols that are different from those proposed in the standard mentioned above.
For example, such applications concern SYSTER (registered trademark) type analog receivers/decoders deployed, for example, in France to descramble in reception the scrambled television programs.
For such portable chip objects that do not have a standardized protocol format and that are generally produced on a relatively small scale, production costs may be very high.
Furthermore, the testing and integration of such portable chip objects are not facilitated by the fact that no standard tools may be used.
As a matter of fact, the present invention provides a solution to these problems.